Five students from Kisumu Girls High School have made headlines after winning coveted continental award for developing a life changing mobile app.
They won the prestigious African of the Year Award 2018 for developing a mobile application, I-cut, aimed at ending female genital mutilation (FGM).
The girls won after impressing a selection committee of the Daily Trust’s African of the Year Award, headed by former President of Botswana Festus Mogae.
In a press statement by Gift Ilesanmi, head of brand marketing at Media Trust Limited, he mentioned that the girls were selected out of several dozen nominees, for innovation of the mobile application called I-cut.
In addition Ilesanmi revealed they will be awarded and honoured at a ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria, next Wednesday.
The girls are Stacy Owino, Purity Achieng’, Ivy Akinyi, Synthia Otieno and Macrine Atieno, former and current students of Kisumu Girls High School.
They will bag Ksh2.5 million prize money in addition to a specially-made plaque.
I-cut is a mobile application that connects girls at risk of circumcision with rescue centres.
It also gives legal and medical help to those who have been subjected to FGM.
The teens, aged 17 to 18, call themselves “the Restorers” because they want to “restore hope to hopeless girls”.
They were Africa’s only representatives at Google’s 2017 Technovation challenge, which took place in Silicon Valley, California, USA.
